Drunk
by music-and-fairytales
Summary: [EC] Calleigh gets drunk and Eric wants to know why. Bad summary but the story is better I hope.


_Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't written in so long! I hope you en joy this one. It's slightly OOC but try to enjoy it anyway! Contains spoilers for the season 3 final: 10-7_

_DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. If I did I probably wouldn't be here writing this at the moment. Lol._

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RING RING

RING RING

Eric rubbed his eyes and mumbled a sleepy "hello?" into the receiver.

"Heeeey Eric!"

Eric sat up and glanced at the clock. 2am. "Calleigh?"

"Yeeeaaahhh it's me. Liiisteeennnn I'm having a bit of a proooblemmmm. I went to this bar againnnn and noooow I can't find my carrrr. Do you remember where I parked it?"

"Calleigh are you drunk?"

"Ooohhhh come on Eric. Don't say it like that. I only drank a teeny tiny teeny tiny teeeennnyyy bit"

Eric sighed and got out of bed. "Cal, I'm gonna come and get you ok? Where are you?"

Calleigh told him the address and he got into his car. He drove faster than usual because he was worried about her. It wasn't like her to be drunk. Arriving at her chosen bar he found her extremely drunk.

"Calleigh! What are you doing here?"

"Heeeeyy Eric! You found me! Will you please take me home?"

Eric sighed. "Come on Cal. Get in the car." He held open the passenger door for her before going and getting in the driver's seat.

They drove in silence until Eric drove past the turn for Calleigh's apartment building.

"Eric..."

"I know. You're staying at my place tonight so that I can make sure you're ok."

He saw her stiffen beside him. She may have been drunk but she was obviously still stubborn. "Eric that's reeeeaaaally not necessssssary"

"Calleigh you're so drunk you can't even talk properly. You're staying at my place tonight so I can take care of you."

Calleigh relaxed a little. "Ok. Thanksss Eriic." She then fell asleep with her head against his window. Eric shook his head and grimaced. She was not going to be happy tomorrow morning.

When he arrived at his apartment building, he carefully carried her inside. She briefly opened her eyes but relaxed when she saw that it was Eric who was carrying her. He carried her into his bedroom and placed her on his bed. After removing her shoes and jacket, he placed her under the covers and kissed her forehead. He grabbed a blanket from the closet and made his way to the couch for the night.

The next morning, he woke to the sound of his cupboards being opened and closed in rapid succession.

"Calleigh?"

The sound stopped for a moment before she guiltily replied; "Hi Eric. Sorry I woke you. Could you tell me..."

"Top shelf of the cupboard in the bathroom"

Sure enough, Calleigh went to the bathroom and found the Aspirin she had been looking for. She smiled. Eric knew her so well.

When she returned, Eric was in the kitchen starting to make breakfast.

"Pancakes ok with you?"

"Yeah perfect" she replied before moving to help him cook. They stood together in their pyjamas, made breakfast in silence and sat to eat it in silence. It wasn't the comfortable silence they were used to either. It was tense and filled with uncertainty. Just as they finished eating Calleigh decided to break the silence.

"That was great thanks Eric" she said cheerfully.

"You're welcome" he answered in a tone that reflected none of her cheerfulness. It was cold and she thought for a moment that he might be angry with her.

"Eric is something wrong?" she asked quietly. '_May as well bite the bullet'_ she thought grimly.

He looked at her for a moment with an expression she couldn't name.

"Calleigh what were you doing at the bar last night?"

"I was just unwinding a little you know? It just got a little out of hand"

He shook his head. "Cal you don't drink because of your dad. You told me that when we went for dinner that time. What made you change?"

Calleigh felt herself start to panic. She didn't want him to think she was weak. '_That's stupid! Eric's never thought anything less of you before!' _she scolded herself.

"It's just this whole thing with Hagen. I don't think I'm really over it yet and I was walking past the bar and I just thought... well maybe it will help. My dad always drank when he was upset about things and I figured well it must have done something then. I just wanted to forget that any of it happened."

Eric thought about it for a second. "Cal you came back to work a week after his death. Alexx, H and I all tried to get in contact with you while you were away but you just shut us all out. I was worried sick about you but you wouldn't answer your phone or answer the door when I came over. Why didn't you tell us you're still so upset about it? Even if you don't tell me things...it wouldn't matter to me just so long as you spoke to someone and felt better in the end. Why didn't you take the extra time when H offered it? Why didn't you take Alexx up on her offers to talk about it? Why didn't you take me up on my offers? You just shut us out when you didn't need to. We were here the whole time and now you're putting yourself in danger and going against your own morals because you're still upset about it! It's understandable that you're upset and everybody knows they'd be exactly the same but why didn't you ask for help? I know you're stubborn and you always feel like you need to be strong but in this case you don't! What changed Cal? Why did you go to the bar last night?"

A single tear rolled down her cheek before she replied; "It was my fault that he killed himself. It was all my fault Eric. I didn't like him anymore. He started acting wierd and he was being really creepy and I broke up with him. He kept accusing me of sleeping with other men and he was always so suspicious of me and one time in the lab he grabbed my arm really tight to keep me from walking away from him. I told him to let go but he wouldn't and I got a massive bruise. I broke up with him. I should have just put up with it. He shouldn't have died. It was just a bruise. It was my fault. I was just so selfish and then he died for it." She looked up at him, tears running down her cheeks. "I don't deserve your help or Alexx's or Horatio's. That's why I didn't ask for it. I was so cruel! I made him take his own life! I don't deserve to have one of my own."

Eric sat in stunned silence while she ranted. He suddenly understood why she drank herself into oblivion. He understood why she shut everybody out. He understood why she had been acting so funny and had seemed so down lately. She had continued to function (as only Calleigh could) but something had been different about her and now he knew why.

"Cal what Hagen did was not your fault. You cannot let yourself believe that. He was depressed and delusional. He held a gun to your head Cal! He was already going down when he grabbed your arm and made those accusations. He was being all suspicious and edgy and everything because he was so depressed and insecure. It was not your fault and you have to believe me when I say that. Hagen was the one that brought out the gun and Hagen was the one that pulled the trigger. None of us even knew that he was that depressed. He hid it well and we have no say in that. This was NOT your fault Cal."

Calleigh was now shaking and crying and she let herself be pulled into Eric's arms. He held onto her tightly while she let it all out and sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Eric. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I dragged you out of bed so late last night. I'm sorry I'm such a mess now. I'm sorry I shut you out when you wanted to help me. I'm sorry I just dumped all my problems on you. You have your own to worry about without adding me to the list. I..."

"Cal" Eric said, interrupting her. "You don't need to be sorry. I'm glad you called me last night because otherwise you would have driven yourself home and I'm not entirely sure you would have made it there. You're allowed to be a mess at the moment because you have such a massive problem on your mind that it's dragging you down and changing your personality which is what was on the top of my problem list. I was worried about what was wrong with you. But now I know what it is and how I can help you so one of my problems has disappeared. And you can always dump your problems on me. I'll always be here to listen to you and help you out ok? Even if that means waking me up at all hours of night. I'll always be here Cal. You've just gotta believe me. What Hagen did was not your fault."

Calleigh leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Eric, burying her face in his neck.

"Thanks Eric."

"Anytime."

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_Thanks for reading everyone! Please review!_


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